West Alabama set for conference action Saturday
By Staff
Special to The Star
Sept. 19, 2001
LIVINGSTON, Ala. Coming off of a tough loss at the hands of nationally ranked Delta State, the University of West Alabama football team looks to rebound at home Saturday, when home Gulf South Conference action begins.
The opponent will be Arkansas-Monticello (2-1, 1-0 in the GSC), as the Tigers look to avenge a loss last year at the hands of the Boll Weevils.
UAM is coming off of an impressive 41-0 shutout win over Oklahoma Panhandle State. Running back Corwin Elliot registered his second consecutive one hundred yard rushing performance of the year with 103 yards on 13 carries, including three touchdowns.
Senior quarterback Kasey Nonette pitched in with a 202 yards via the pass, including an 84-yard strike to Greg Lawson. Lawson pulled down 153 yards on four catches to pace UAM versus OPSU. Garren Rockwell led the Weevil's defensive attack with six tackles, including a career-high four sacks. Also, the UAM secondary forced two interceptions, one by Shaun Manning and the other by Daniel Henderson. Henderson's interception was returned 55 yards for a score.
UWA is coming off a rough outing against the defending national champions from Delta State. DSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead at the end of the first half before taking the contest by the score of 47-7. Delta State running back Rico McDonald rambled for a season-high 151 yards on 26 carries, including two touchdowns.
Quarterback Josh Bright had an exceptional night, connecting on 10-of-16 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Marc Coleman led all Tiger running backs with 24 yards on six carries,
including UWA's only score. Linebackers Lorin Lovely and Matt Maddox paced the West Alabama defense with 10 and nine tackles respectively.
West Alabama enters this weekend hoping to give Coach Pippin the first GSC win of his career. Sophomore running back Presley Gilmore leads a Tiger rushing attack, that averages over 110 yards per outing, with 159 yards on 42 carries, including one touchdown. Bakari Bryant and Brett Gilliland lead a two-man Tiger passing attack that has compiled 457 yards in three games.
Bryant is 11-of-25 for 170 yards and one touchdown, while Gilliland has also completed 11-of-25 passes for 136 yards. Linebackers Lorin Lovely and Randall Jones continue to pace a tightfisted West Alabama defense with 26 and 21 tackles respectively. Lovely has also tallied four tackles for a loss to go along with two sacks, while Jones has recorded six tackles for a loss.
The UWA secondary is lead by senior George Bates and junior Cedrick Coleman. Bates has tallied 20 tackles from his free safety spot this season, while Coleman has picked off two passes.
"UAM is a very athletic team, and we will have to be at our best to beat them," said Pippin. "We are continuing to get better, but we must play with more intensity and discipline than we did last week."
Kick off is scheduled of 1 p.m.
